00:00For ten years, scientists kept this bird alive behind fences,
00:03because outside those fences, its world was disappearing.
00:06Then, on a quiet morning in the Thar desert, they opened the gate.
00:09Four birds were released. One did not survive its first week.
00:13This is the story of a rescue attempted, a loss that changed the plan,
00:16and a question no one can yet answer.
00:18Can a bird raised in captivity learn to be wild again?
00:21This is the great Indian bustard, Ardaetus nigriseps,
00:24known locally as Godawan, the state bird of Rajasthan.
00:27It is a tall, heavy ground bird, about a meter high,
00:30with a black cap, a pale neck, and long legs made for walking open country.
00:34It does not live in forests.
00:36It needs grassland it can see across, where it can feed, display, and nest on the ground.
00:41It eats grass seeds and insects, including grasshoppers and beetles,
00:44and sometimes small rodents and reptiles.
00:47It is listed as critically endangered, and has disappeared from about 90% of its former range.
00:52The danger is not one thing.
00:54Grassland has been broken up by farming, roads, and energy development.
00:57Overhead power lines are a particular threat,
00:59because a heavy bird with poor frontal vision cannot turn quickly enough to avoid them.
01:04Ground nests are vulnerable to dogs, pigs, crows, and native predators.
01:07And the bustard breeds slowly, laying a single egg, so every loss matters.
01:12The Living Planet report found an average decline of 73% in monitored wildlife populations
01:17between 1970 and 2022.
01:19That is an average for monitored populations, not a count of animals lost.
01:23The response began with conservation breeding.
01:25The program, run by India's Environment Ministry, the Rajasthan Forest Department,
01:29and the Wildlife Institute of India, was sanctioned in 2016.
01:33At Sam and Ramdevra in Jaisalmer, scientists collected eggs from wild nests and raised chicks
01:38in safety.
01:38The first captive-bred chick hatched at Sam in March 2023.
01:42By October 2026, 24 chicks had been produced in 2025 and 29 in 2026.
01:48At Ramdevra, a pillarless rewilding aviary, 160 meters long, 64 meters wide, and 14 meters high,
01:56gave birds room to fly and practice being wild.
01:59About 200 square kilometers of fenced grassland in Desert National Park were identified as prime
02:04breeding habitat.
02:05There was a second, bolder idea.
02:07Instead of raising every bird to adulthood in captivity, take a captive-laid egg, carry it
02:11770 kilometers in a portable incubator, and place it in a wild female's nest.
02:16The foster mother accepted it.
02:17The chick hatched four days later and was raised wild.
02:20By October 2026, that jump-start approach had produced six chicks in Rajasthan and two
02:25in Gujarat.
02:26Captive breeding and wild populations did not have to be separate worlds.
02:29On the 4th of October 2026, Union Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav released two male Great
02:35Indian Bustards at Sam in Desert National Park Jaisalmer.
02:38Human presence was limited to minimize disturbance.
02:41Ten days later, on the 14th of October, two more males were released, bringing the first
02:46phase total to four.
02:47Neither release day proved survival, breeding, or safety.
02:50Those outcomes were still to be tested, with monitoring through satellite tracking.
02:54On Sunday the 18th of October, four days after its release, the six-month-old male released
02:58on the 14th of October was killed by a fox.
03:01Forest officials reported that the bird was drinking at a pond, known locally as a gajalar
03:05in the SAM area, when a fox hiding in nearby bushes attacked it.
03:09A monitoring team, alerted through its satellite tracking device, found the bird's remains
03:13and scattered feathers, recovered the tracking device, and collected blood samples.
03:17The release of the seven remaining first-phase birds was put on hold, pending a review.
03:21The other three released birds were reported safe as of the 21st of October.
03:25That is a status at a point in time, not a guarantee, and this film does not update it beyond
03:30that reporting.
03:30The Wildlife Institute's director described predation as natural, and foxes as expected
03:35in this habitat.
03:36Reporting also recorded a debate over proposals to destroy fox dens, with critics warning that
03:41foxes are native to the thar and part of its ecological balance.
03:44Before we look ahead, the program's own numbers must be kept in two dated snapshots, not blended.
03:49On the 4th of October, the facilities held 97 birds, 40 from wild-laid eggs, 57 captive-bred,
03:5586 maintained for captive reproduction, and 11 earmarked for release.
03:59A program summary dated the 24th of October, listed 96 birds, 40 wild-origin, 56 captive-bred,
04:0686 for captive reproduction, and 10 earmarked.
04:09The summaries do not explain the one-bird difference, and this film does not guess its
04:13cause, and does not claim it was the fox death.
04:16Separately, the first phase arithmetic is clear.
04:1811 identified, 4 released, 1 died, 3 reported safe on the 21st of October, and 7 on hold.
04:25If the bustard is to recover, the released birds must survive, the habitat must hold and
04:29stay connected, the powerline threat must be reduced where it matters most, the captive
04:34population must stay healthy, and the people who share this grassland must remain partners.
04:38The program has moved from keeping a species alive behind fences, to testing whether it
04:43can live beyond them, and it has learned, in the hardest way, that the test includes native
04:47predators, open water holes, and the limits of captive training.
04:50That move is still the real news of October 2026.
04:53It is not a rescue completed, it is a rescue attempted, interrupted by a death, and now
04:59paused for review.
05:00The grassland is still there.
05:02The question is whether we will keep it open enough, safe enough, and connected enough,
05:06and whether we will be honest enough, when a bird dies, to change the plan rather than
05:10only mourn the loss.
